The Places on Earth Most Like Jurassic World

Starting June 12, "the park is open"—and the Jurassic Park storyline continues, 22 years after Steven Spielberg first envisioned Isla Nublar for the big screen. But what places on Earth actually come close to a dinosaur theme park? More than you might think.

Jurassic World is real—inasmuch as indie filmmaker Colin Trevorrow (director of Safety Not Guaranteed) was given $150 million to imagine what a luxe theme park full of genetically modified dinosaurs might look like. The team behind the new future blockbuster, opening today, even created a fairly incredible marketing campaign where families can visit the Jurassic World website and "plan a trip" to Isla Nublar, the fictional island where the movie takes place. Just ride the ferry from Costa Rica to the park, where you can check into the Hilton Isla Nublar Resort, take a guided safari tour of Gallimimus Valley, hope to see the first-ever Indominus rex, and dine at Winston's Steakhouse (try the Chilean sea bass!). There's even a Margaritaville.

"If Jurassic World was real, would you like to go?"Wiredasked Trevorrow recently.

Fair point. So rather than become T-rex chow, we rounded up the locations that evoke the otherworldly—parks that are larger than life, where wild creatures own the terrain and you can almost imagine a velociraptor poking its claw through the ferns (or around a kitchen door). Who needs fiction when reality is so spectacular?

The Son Doong Cave

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The Son Doong Cave, Phong Nha-Ke National Park, Vietnam

How big is Son Doong Cave? It's five miles long, 650 feet high, and 500 feet wide. It could hold an entire city block of Manhattan, including 40-story skyscrapers. It has its own lush vegetation where sunlight filters in from sinkholes above, and clouds even form near the ceiling when moisture condenses there. The world's tallest stalagmites tower 260 feet in the air, and limestone "cave pearls" the size of baseballs litter the cave floor. This amazing underground cathedral is a potent reminder that there are still remarkable landscapes on Earth waiting to be discovered. —Ken Jennings, "The World's Largest Cave Could House a 40-Story Skyscraper"

If you can’t travel to Jurassic World, how about Middle-earth? New Zealand’s South Island was a central filming location for much of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Fiordland National Park—with its misty mountains and massive glacial lakes—the most mind-blowing of the lot. Go "tramping" (hiking) along mountain faces, through dense, electric green forests, and past waterfalls (the Routeburn Track is highly recommended); or visit a Te Anau Glowworm Caves, a 12,000-year-old cave system where bioluminescent insects light the way. —Laura Dannen Redman

Down the Avenue of the Giants, 32 miles of redwoods line the highway, some rising 300-plus feet in the air (the tallest was said to to be bigger than the Statue of Liberty—or five times the size of the tallest dinosaur). Some of the oldest redwoods have celebrated their 2,000th birthday, but to really comprehend this ancient landscape, it’s best to explore on foot. Park in Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park and walk the half mile to Stout Grove. It’s like a natural cathedral: branches interlocking way above, a soft blanket of needles on the ground, and redwoods standing ram-rod straight in silent contemplation all around you. —L.D.R.

Everything you've heard about the Galápagos Islands is true: Yes, the Galápagos tortoise is nearly the size of a Smart car; and yes, you can get up close with blue-footed boobies and frigates. Located approximately 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador, the archipelago, comprised of 21 volcanic islands, is one of the rare places where the animals far outnumber the people. In fact, only five of the islands are inhabited. Experiencing the archipelago firsthand is truly a trip of a lifetime. —Randy Kalp

If you have time to continue the Ecuadorian exploration, head into the Amazon—it’ll take a plane, a speedboat, and a canoe to get there, but once you’re in the rainforest, you’ll feel a world away. Napo Wildlife Center and Eco-Lodge offers excellent guided tours, on foot and by canoe, to get up close to the caymans at night, whose eyes glow red in the dark, and the oversized insects by day. When the spiders are the size of your fist, who needs dinosaurs? —L.D.R.

Kipu Kai, Kauai, Hawaii

Kipu Kai, Kauai, Hawaii

The best reason Kauai looks like the perfect place for a family of hungry velociraptors? Much of the first Jurassic Parkmovie was actually filmed here. The island—Hawaii’s oldest and fourth largest—is home to soaring peaks, white sand beaches, and lush rainforests that look like something, well, prehistoric. Visitors can hike through (or, for more epic views, helicopter over) Waimea Canyon State Park, snap the perfect selfie in front of the 80-foot double waterfalls at Wailua Falls, and rest without fear of T-rex attack on Polihale Beach while taking in views of the dramatic cliffs of the Na Pali coastline. The island is one of the wettest in the world, so be sure to bring a raincoat. —Jayna Maleri

Isla del Coco

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Isla del Coco, Costa Rica

With a lush climate, mountainous topography, and a location many miles off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, Isla del Coco sounds awfully similar to a certain fictional island featured in the Jurassic Parkfranchise. Costa Rican park rangers are the island’s only permanent residents, but the diverse marine ecosystem make it a coveted destination for scuba divers (the island is expensive to visit and only about 3,200 make the trip annually, according to park officials). The distinct biodiversity extends to the shore: The cloud forests found in the island's upper altitudes are unique to the eastern Pacific. This ecological feature bolsters the argument that the island served as inspiration for Michael Crichton’s Isla Nublar ("Cloudy Island" in English). Make the visit and you can be the judge. —Calder Quinn

Located about 90 miles off the coast of São Paolo, Ilha de Queimada Grande (“Snake Island”) is one of the most dangerous islands in the entire world. The site earned its moniker due to its insanely high density of golden lancehead vipers; some studies report an average of one to five snakes per square meter. The lancehead genus is prevalent throughout Brazil, accounting for 90 percent of the country’s snake-related deaths. However, when sea levels rose some 11,000 years ago and separated Snake Island from the mainland, the newly isolated snakes became hyper evolved—and hyper terrifying—to adapt to their changing environment.

Since the stranded lanceheads had no ground-level prey on the island, they learned to hunt in the treetops and strike at birds from the air. And because the snakes couldn’t track down the birds and wait for the poison to kick in, their venom adapted to become five times stronger than that of their mainland counterparts—capable of killing their prey instantly, as well as melting human flesh. Because of their potency, the Brazilian government bans the public from ever setting foot on the island (as if you would want to). —Caitlin Morton, "The Most Terrifying Places on Earth"